Overview
- A regional trial court convicted Alice Guo of qualified human trafficking for running a Chinese-operated online gambling and scam hub in Bamban, north of Manila.
- Seven co-defendants also received life sentences, with prosecutors saying Guo and three others were found guilty of organizing trafficking and four others of acts of trafficking.
- The court ordered the facility forfeited to the government after a March 2024 raid uncovered more than 700 workers of multiple nationalities and documents tying the site to Guo.
- Investigators linked the eight-hectare complex to Baofu Land Development, which Guo helped incorporate alongside associates later convicted in Singapore’s largest money-laundering case.
- Guo fled the Philippines during a Senate probe, was arrested in Indonesia in September 2024, and was earlier ruled ineligible to serve as mayor, as the case fueled a national crackdown on offshore gambling operations.